: This proposal seeks NHGRI funding to partially support US junior faculty members from under-represented groups and US trainees to attend the 11th and 12th International Meetings on Human Genome Variation and Complex Genome Analysis (HGV2009 and HGV2010) to be held at the Laulasmaa Resort near Tallinn, Estonia from September 10- 12, 2009 and the Asilomar Conference Grounds near Monterey, California from October 7-9, 2010. The HGV2009 meeting is particularly timely because the field of human genome variation research is moving very fast, with the completion of the HapMap Phase I Project in October 2005 and the publication of the HapMap Phase II results in October 2007. There is also increasing recognition that copy number polymorphisms and structural variations of the genome are important signatures of human evolution and causes of human diseases. In addition, results from a number of genome-wide studies have been published recently and many more genome-wide studies are underway and the results of these studies will be ready for presentation by the time this meeting is held. In HGV2009 and HGV2010, we will devote substantial coverage of the emerging areas of human variation research, including whole genome sequencing and transcriptome variation, and bring together investigators in diverse fields to promote collaborations and move the field even further along. The unique feature of this three-day meeting is that it brings together top researchers in the many areas of human variation research, from radically new technologies that will change the field dramatically, to the mechanisms of how different types of human variations came about, to new statistical approaches for genetic studies in the HapMap and whole genome sequencing era that take into account copy number variations, to the study of molecular evolution based on comparative genome variation analysis, and to the social and ethical implications of human variation research. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Human variation research is the foundation on which personalized medicine is built. At the HGV2009 and HGV2010 Meetings, researchers from diverse disciplines will share their latest findings in human variation research and move the field towards the goal of deciphering the genetic basis of human diseases.